Carbon monoxide killed ‘Buckwild’ star, others

 “It’s just a very sad, tragic thing.”

That is how Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper described this week’s deaths of three Kanawha County residents, including Shain Gandee, 21, one of the cast members for MTV’s “Buckwild.”

A preliminary autopsy report from the state Medical Examiner’s Office shows Gandee, his uncle David Gandee, 48, and Donald Robert Myers, 27, died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The deaths are being classified as accidental.

The three Sissonville men were found Monday morning near Wolf Pen Drive in Sissonville in the 1984 Ford Bronco they had taken out to go four-wheeling.

Carper said there was little doubt about the cause of death. “The (Kanawha County) Sheriff’s Department has looked at this carefully. There’s no foul play,” Commissioner Carper said on Tuesday’s “MetroNews Talkline.”

“Where the vehicle was and the way the vehicle was immersed in this mud pit, that’s the probable cause and I don’t think there’s any question about that.”

The two Gandees were last seen about 3 a.m. Sunday when they left Larry’s Bar in Sissonville to go out four-wheeling.  They never returned and were reported missing on Monday morning.

Shortly after that report, the vehicle was found in a large mudhole near Gandee’s home with much of the passenger side submerged in the mud.

Carper said he knows “Buckwild” was filming in parts of the Kanawha Valley this past weekend.  On Monday, MTV officials said production for the second season of “Buckwild” was being suspended.

Charleston Mayor Danny Jones said the show should not be the focus right now. “I hope this ‘Buckwild’ goes away,” the mayor said.

“Somewhere, there’s some parents that are mighty hurt and there’s family and friends of this young man that will never have another conversation with him.”

Sheriff’s Dept. spokesman Cpl. Brian Humphreys said there’s no reason to believe the deaths were anything but accidental.